weekend course beekeeping weekend

location: Gateshead

This is a 14-hour weekend beekeeping course. The aim is to give you a grounding of theory sufficient to help you towards becoming a self-reliant.
Including 2 hours of hands-on beekeeping practice where you will handle the frames, bees and look for the queen, spot the eggs and be talked through what is happening on that day. Learn to identify: queen cells; sufficient stores; sickness and infestations; sufficient space and so on.

This course does not give you the hands-on practice or the same degree of depth of coverage as our 30 hour, 10 week course, but if you live too far away or if you do not have the time to commit to 10 consecutive weeks then this is the solution for you. Enjoy the weekend and get steeped in beekeeping. You will find this is a good and thorough course covering all the essential basics.

We will cover the most important tasks of the beekeeping year, including:

• Introduction to the beehive.
• Classes of bees in the hive and their respective tasks
• The life cycle of the honey bee
• Introduction to the British Beekeepers Association and the National Bee Unit
• Presentation of Ted Hooper's 5 inspection points
• Presentation of principles of: swarm control, artificial swarm, making an increase and uniting colonies
• Introduction to the problems of: siting a hive; the public, neighbours, friends and enemies
• Insurance
• Food sources, forage, pollen, nectar and feeding bees
• Disease control
• Springtime and summertime beekeeping
• The honey crop and preparing for the winter

And many other topics as well as answering your questions.

At the end of the course we will do our best to find you help for follow-up, either in the form of a mentor or through your local Beekeepers Association.

dates: see 'book online' below

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